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Investing.com -- Softwareone Holding (SIX:SWON) reported a net loss of 1.6 million Swiss francs for 2024, citing exceptional costs tied to restructuring and efficiency initiatives. This marks a decline from its 2023 profit of 21.4 million francs.
Despite the loss, the Swiss technology firm’s full-year revenue edged up to 1.015 billion francs ($1.12 billion), slightly higher than the previous year.
For the fourth quarter of 2024, SoftwareOne’s revenue declined by around 5% year-over-year to 250.3 million francs, marking a 5% miss compared to consensus estimates.
Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter came in at 62.3 million francs, in line with Street expectations.
The company’s shares jumped over 5% in European trading Wednesday.
SoftwareOne also said it expects to finalize its acquisition of Norway’s Crayon Group by June, ahead of its initial third-quarter timeline. The $1.4 billion cash-and-stock deal was announced in December.
By the end of 2024, the company had already secured annualized cost savings of 58 million francs, surpassing its earlier target of 50 million francs, which was expected to be met by mid-2025. As a result, SoftwareOne has now raised its cost-saving goal to 70 million francs.
Looking ahead, SoftwareOne projects 2-4% revenue growth excluding foreign exchange (FX) impacts for 2025, with adjusted EBITDA margins of 24-26% and a dividend payout of 30-50% of adjusted profit.
The revenue growth guidance is slightly lower than 2024’s 2-5%, but Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) analysts think it aligns with market expectations of around 3%. The midpoint of the EBITDA margin forecast suggests a 12% increase over current consensus estimates.
"We see an in-line adj. EBITDA and positive 2025 EBITDA guidance as enough to see the shares up today – although we think investors will likely want to see evidence of delivery before fully discounting the better-than-expected guidance," analyst Adam Wood said in a note.
Alongside earnings, SoftwareOne also announced that CFO Rodolfo Savitzky, who has held the role since 2022, will step down in the second quarter of 2025 "by mutual agreement." The company plans to announce his successor in the coming weeks.